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Monday, July 29, 2013

Rejoicing in God's perfect timing

So yesterday was a tough day. The kind of day that you could go to bed crying or just go to bed laughing at the craziness that happened throughout the day. I decided to go to bed laughing because I knew that today was a new day and it would be better than yesterday.

Today I woke up to Zeri talking in his crib (this never happens..he usually wakes up screaming!) and it put a smile on my face. Have you ever had one of those moments that you wish you could freeze in your mind forever? That is what my morning was like today. We didn't do anything extremely fun today or ever leave our block, but that is what made my morning so wonderful.

I kept looking at my kids and just rejoicing in the fact that they are mine. I am one lucky lady to get to spend my life with these two kids (and my amazing hubs!). We played outside today and then went on a walk. I pushed Zeri in his car and Olivia walked next to me. While we were walking Zeri reached out to grab Olivia's hand. She smiled, took his hand, and walked a little closer to him. We walked around the block like this while I was trying to hold back my tears. When we got home I squirted them with the hose and then they played for a bit in the water. You should have heard the laughter coming out of their mouths-priceless. Zeri kept clinging to Olivia and cracking up when the water would hit his face. When we got back inside my kids sat at the table while I made lunch. They were making each other laugh by doing silly faces and again I tried to hold back my tears.

Just a little over a month ago Zerihun was just a face in a picture to Olivia and now he is her playmate, her friend, and the person who makes her laugh more than anyone else in the world. When she is sad, he comes over to her, gets in her face and babbles, and does something silly to make her laugh. He wants his sister to feel better. When Zerihun cries, Olivia pats his back and hugs him. Olivia wakes up and the first thing she says is, "Is Zeri up? I want to see him!" She runs out and wraps her arms around him. He squeals with delight and gives her a hug.

If we didn't follow God's call to adopt, then these two would not be together. Throughout our adoption there were days when I asked God why it was taking so long for us to be matched with our child. I cried and prayed that God would bless us with the perfect child for our family. Olivia asked God to give her a brother who was funny. We waited so long for Zeri and it's so amazing to see that God took care of us. HE knew the entire time that Zerihun was our child and brother. As I looked at my kids (and for the 3rd time!) and tried to hold back tears, I just silently thanked God for taking care of us. God was probably laughing at me every time I came to him crying because he knew just how perfect Zerihun would be for our family. HE knew that I needed to wait on HIM and not try to control things. HE knew that Olivia needed to grow up a bit so that she could enjoy being the big sister and accept Zerihun into our family. God knew that we needed Zeri in our family just as much as he needed us to be his family.

So, I might go to bed crying tonight. Only tonight it's not because of a stressful day, it's because my heart is so full of happiness and joy.